Two of the most persistent myths about Churchill’s personal life are that he suffered from manic depression (Bipolar Disorder-we are all bipolar!) or major depression & that he was an abuser of alcohol. Google “Churchill and Depression” or “Churchill and Alcohol” and page after page after page will pop up.
The Myth of Churchill and Alcohol: A Distortion of the Record https://winstonchurchill.hillsdale.edu/myth-churchill-alcohol/
Both myths suffer from similar faults. Persons qualified to diagnose manic depression or ‘alcohol abuse’ usually have a Superficial knowledge of Churchill, while those knowledgeable about Churchill usually have a Superficial understanding of mental illness or alcoholism.
The depression fable has been capably addressed by Carol Breckenridge. A similar approach may be made to the subject of Churchill and alcohol—a subject on which we heard even more of than his alleged mental illness.
A recent example was “How was it possible for Winston Churchill to drink so much and still function at a high level?” by Scott Alexander Williams on quora.com in 2018. First, the author gets wrong the amount of Churchill’s daily (considerable) consumption of alcohol. Then he uses this exaggerated amount to conclude that Churchill was “a high-functioning alcoholic.” In fact, the amount of alcohol a person consumes does not define an alcoholic. And “high-functioning alcoholic” is an oxymoron along the lines of “deafening silence.”
The Limit of Moderation
It is quite true that Churchill drank a lot & did so every day. I illustrated this in a scene at Chartwell in my historical novel, The Parsifal Pursuit: “Thank you,” she said as she took the gin and tonic ~ “I’m doing my best to cut down ~ Alcohol is decidedly detrimental to one’s health.”
“Not if you drink in moderation,” Cockran said. “You sound just like Mr. Churchill,” she said. ‘Everything in moderation’ I hear him tell people. I must say, if the way Winston drinks is ‘moderation’, then he drinks an awful lot in moderation.’ Cockran had to laugh. “True,” he said.
‘If there is an amount that defines moderation, Winston is likely near the limit.’ The point is that, for Churchill as an individual, his “limit of moderation” was quite high. The following (from Richard Langworth’s Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality) is a fair approximation of his minimum daily consumption of alcohol:
(1) 3-4 WEAK (no more than an ounce) whisky and soda at 11am, teatime and bedtime & occasionally one other during the evening (He never drank whisky neat).
(2) An imperial pint (20 oz.) of champagne or wine at a 1pm lunch followed by a brandy, also likely an ounce.
(3) An imperial pint of champagne or wine at dinner followed by a brandy.
This translates into approximately six glasses (1½ 750 ml. bottles) of champagne or wine daily along with 5 to 6 ounces of whisky or brandy spread over a 12 to 15 hour period. By any standards, that’s a lot of alcohol. A person’s body will process and metabolize pure alcohol at the rate of one ounce per hour, however,
so Churchill’s regular daily consumption is within that rate.
Were there occasions when Churchill drank more?
Undoubtedly. But the amount of alcohol a person consumes does not define an alcoholic. What matters is the effect of the alcohol on a person’s health and life. Labeling Churchill an alcoholic based on the amount he consumed is no more accurate than calling him Bi-Polar or manic-depressive because, like most people, he was from time to time depressed.
He lost elections, lost cabinet offices, lost battles, lost political arguments. “The things he went through would depress anybody,” his daughter Mary often said.
Let us begin with a basic dictionary definition of alcoholism before we consider the more detailed criteria in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (hereafter DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Association (1994), and whether it relates to Churchill.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines alcoholism as a “disorder characterized by the excessive consumption of and dependence on alcoholic beverages, leading to physical and psychological harm and impaired social and vocational functioning [emphasis added].
This definition alone establishes that ‘Churchill could not possibly be an alcoholic.’
Where is the evidence of his impaired social and vocational functioning?
During his life, he wrote over fifty books in eighty volumes. He produced over 500 oil paintings after the age of forty, played polo until he was fifty, rode horses into his seventies.
He was the highest paid journalist in the world during his “Wilderness Years” of 1929-39, he eventually won the Nobel Prize for Literature. In a political career spanning sixty years, he held every major Cabinet position except Foreign Secretary (where he assumed its duties and served as acting Foreign Secretary while Anthony Eden was on medical leave). Along the way in 1940, when Britain and her Commonwealth stood alone, he saved Western Civilization.
Clearly, using the a simple dictionary definition, Churchill was not an alcoholic.
Let us however consider DSM-IV and similar, albeit more detailed and specific, criteria for a diagnosis of alcoholism.
Like Bi-Polar (WE ARE AL BI-POLAR!!!) Disorder, Substance Abuse and Substance Dependence (including alcohol and other drugs) are defined in DSM-IV as a “mental disorder.”
Substance Abuse and Substance Dependence are two different things (abuse being a precondition for dependence, i.e., YOU HAVE TO ABUSE ALCOHOL ~ before becoming dependent on it).
READ MORE: Churchill comes no closer to meeting these criteria than he comes to the dictionary definition.
DSM-IV is over 900 pages long and the following definitions are taken from the smaller sized Desk Reference to DSM-IV. Note: DSM-V (2013), combines the two substance disorders into a single “alcohol use disorder” but with almost identical criteria:
Substance Abuse
A maladaptive pattern of substance use leading to clinically significant impairment or distress, as manifested by one (or more) of the following, occurring within a 12-month period:
- A recurrent substance use resulting in a failure to fulfill major role obligations at work, school or home…
- Recurrent substance abuse in situations in which it is physically hazardous (e.g., driving an automobile)…
- Recurrent substance-related legal problems (e.g., arrests for substance-related disorderly conduct)…
- Continued substance use despite having persistent or recurrent social or interpersonal problems caused or exacerbated by the effects of the substance…
At no time within any twelve-month period in Churchill’s long and astonishingly productive life did his alcohol consumption manifest any of these criteria.
His capacity for work—writing, painting, bricklaying, speaking, administering government departments—was legendary.
Though he rarely drove automobiles himself, he had no “legal problems” associated with excessive use of alcohol.
Any “persistent or recurrent social or interpersonal problems” he may have had were not alcohol-related, and usually political in origin.
For example, when he held cabinet office, he would frequently annoy other cabinet members by intervening in or offering his opinions on matters outside his own jurisdiction. This, of course, was unrelated to his alcohol consumption.
It was simply his nature.
Since it is clear that Churchill never abused alcohol, he was never, by definition, dependent on alcohol in a clinical sense. Nevertheless, let us also consider the DSM criteria for dependence and apply them to Churchill.
Substance Dependence
A maladaptive pattern of substance use, leading to clinically significant impairment or distress, as manifested by three (or more) of the following occurring at any time in the same 12-month period:
- Tolerance, as defined by either of the following: (1) a need for markedly increased amounts of the substance to achieve intoxication; (2) markedly diminished effect with continued use of the same amount of the substance…
- Withdrawal as manifested by either of the following: (1) the characteristic withdrawal syndrome for the substance; (2) the same (or a closely related) substance is taken to relieve or avoid withdrawal symptoms…
- The substance is taken in larger amounts or over a longer period than was intended…
- There is a persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control substance use…
- A great deal of time is spent in activities necessary to obtain the substance, use the substance, or recover from its effects…
- Important social, occupational or recreational activities are given up or reduced because of substance use…
- The substance use is continued despite knowledge of having a persistent or recurrent physical or psychological problem that is likely to have been caused or exacerbated by the substance (e.g., continued drinking despite recognition that an ulcer is made worse by alcohol consumption).
Churchill does not meet any of these criteria, let alone “three (or more)…in the same 12-month period.” Churchill did not consume alcohol in order to “achieve intoxication.” Nor did he have “a need for markedly increased amounts” of alcohol. His consumption stayed virtually the same throughout his life.
Hence, he did not consume alcohol “in larger amounts or over a longer period than was intended.” There is no evidence of his ever suffering withdrawal—let alone consuming alcohol to avoid the symptoms of withdrawal. He rarely made an effort to “cut down” his consumption of alcohol, though in 1936 he apparently won a bet with a friend who challenged him to abstain from spirits for a year. Of course he never spent any time, let alone “a great deal of time,” in obtaining alcohol, even in his youth, when he presumably had to order supplies himself. Nor did Churchill ever cancel “important social, occupational or recreational activities” because of alcohol. Only one of the DSM criteria may apply: it is possible that alcohol contributed to certain physical maladies as Churchill aged. Yet he was never treated for alcoholism, or told to stop drinking to improve his health.
To an extent, Churchill himself was responsible for the two leading personal fables, his depression and drinking. He freely used the “Black Dog” metaphor, learned from his Victorian nanny, to describe his bad moods and or sometime melancholy. And he fanned his reputation for drinking. There were the several occasions when he asked “the Prof,” his friend Professor Lindemann, whether the amount of alcohol he had consumed in his life would reach in a room. The Prof would always give a trifling level, and Churchill would quip: “How much to do; how little time remains.”
But none of this behavior on his part excuses historians or even serious writers to state flatly that Churchill was depressive or an alcoholic. He was neither. Those who say he was simply don’t know what they’re talking about. And if you don’t know what you’re talking about, it is a good policy to remain silent.
The Author
Michael McMenamin is the co-author with Curt Zoller of Becoming Winston Churchill, the Untold Story of Young Winston and His American Mentor, and the author of several Churchill historical novels. For the past two decades he has written a column in Finest Hour entitled “Action This Day,” chronicling Churchill’s life at 25-year intervals.
May 18, 2018 – The following (from Richard Langworth’s Winston Churchill, Myth and Reality) is a fair approximation of his minimum daily consumption of alcohol: (1) 3-4 weak (no more than an ounce) whisky and sodas at 11am, teatime and bedtime and occasionally one other during the evening (He never drank whisky neat).
How much alcohol did Winston Churchill drink per day? – Quora
https://www.quora.com/How-much-alcohol-did-Winston-Churchill-drink-per-day
Search for: How much did Churchill drink a day?
Churchill himself once estimated that he drank a quart of wine and spirits a day (24 hours) .
Call it a liter. If 2/3 wine and 1/3 brandy or whiskey, the alcohol would be say 24% by volume or 20% by weight, that would be 200 grams a day which is a lot more than the current British guideline of 20 grams a day! Apr 1, 2016
How much alcohol did Winston Churchill drink per day? – Quora
https://www.quora.com/How-much-alcohol-did-Winston-Churchill-drink-per-day
The Epic Drinking Regimen Of Prime Minister Winston Churchill
https://allthatsinteresting.com/winston-churchill-drinking
Mar 28, 2018 – … accomplishments. And he did it all with a glass of whiskey by his side. …
All in a day’s work for U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Winston Churchill … It’s hard to pin down exactly how much Churchill drank. One estimate …
READ MORE:
Apr 1, 2016 – Churchill himself once estimated that he drank a quart of wine and spirits a day. Call it a liter. If 2/3 wine and 1/3 brandy or whiskey, the alcohol would be say 24% by volume or 20% by weight, that would be 200 grams a day (24 hours) which is a lot more than the current British guideline of 20 grams a day!
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The cost of Medical care is threatening to bankrupt us.Reducing the ‘ INERT’ & over-prescribed (under doctor’s supervision)
Reduce the ‘Pill for a Problem philosophy of Pharma – to PLACEBO level-to preserve organs & avoid SIDE-EFFECTS –
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The Genesis of Generational of Suicidal Tendencies – The Human Rights Issue of Our Time – Over time-Western Thought Anxiety Programs – ‘Uninformed or Malinformed’ individuals-Kept ignorant by Big Business – Big Government-
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- CHART OF GLOBAL PANDEMIC CORONA VIRUS ~
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- ANOTHER REASON TO BAN GMO FACTORY PROCESSED FOODS TO PREVENT ANOTHER PANDEMIC US & OTHER COUNTRIES THAT LOVE REFINED WHITE BREAD & RICE
- LEADING THE WAY IN SPREADING VIRUS ~ (CANCER & OTHER flu will also fall by Banning GMO in America)
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READ MORE-
Simple & Quick Plant Protein Recipes & SEAFOOD!
** HOW TO CLEAN CANNED-PRESERVED SEAFOOD-
(Inflammatory) ‘Motor-like SWILL’ oil or water canned or sardines, tuna, etc) – 3 soaks (after ‘swill’ is drained in garbage disposal)
- It OK to buy Marinaded In lemon seasoning & sea salt marinade (to be rinses off)
Instead of CONSUMING the ‘SWILLl’ of canned foods
-to make MORE PROFIT – A vital Step (that prevents disease) is SKIPPED-In the preparation of MODERN CANNED food are not ‘BLANCHED’ before canning – Pioneers Preserving Practice
- (to remove the ‘SWILL’ (INFLAMMATORY Omega 6
- & Other Cancer-causing Heat-altered Free Radicals) –
DIRECTIONS –
1. Drain & Empty in bowl & rinsing several times-
2. Soak in Sea salt & AC vinegar for 5 minutes or longer
( 2 times – if oil packed – oil will rise to the top to be poured off – skin should be removed or buy ‘water-packed’ skinless boneless)
3. Final soak in sea salt, lemon juice or buttermilk (from the Pasture-raised Farm animals) – Can leave longer – 30 minutes
4. Rinse & Pat dry!
Serve as a salad – EV Olive oil , garlic, chopped onions, leeks, balsamic vinegar S & P, Cajun or Herb de Provence, capers , etc
Good-to-Go CNS & Immune system food to prevent & reverse Covid 19
Read More
Fresh Fruit servings per day DIFFICULT?
** SIMPLE “HANDFUL” of “Non-GMO ‘PLANT PROTEIN’ Smoothie (With Maca Powder – CNS support)
** For ‘Plant Protein’ ~ HANDFUL of Plant Protein Smoothie –
DIRECTIONS-
Soaked Frozen Almonds or coked Farro, buckwheat, oats or other Ancient Grains (low or no gluten)
AVOID USING ANY PROTEIN POWDER (OMEGA 6 – INFLAMMATORY….
& Frozen Non GMO Tofu cubes…Grind to paste with a small amount of Kombucha tea, green tea, cranberry juice. etc…
** Add HANDFUL of kale, Bok Choy, Swiss Chard, Beet Greens, Collards or any other deep green & leafy vegetable…
Broccoli, a carrot, celery with leaves, stems of beet greens & Swiss Chard…
** Add a HANDFUL of frozen fruit or vegetables
& (Remove PEEl – if GMO) …
Google if not sure … Avoid Flax seeds, GMO Apples, Squash & Zucchini, Peel potatoes & tomatoes (Night Shade – high in Lectins & GMO alfalfa & corn fed Animals)…any Industrial farmed Animals..
(GMO -“Magnifies” Lectins in peel to ward off predators & Vital Glutens – necessary seed locks) … causing them to be concentrated to a “Toxic” level).
**Add Abundant honey, raw sugar or Maple Syrup…
ENJOY!
** SIMPLE ‘ANTI-INFLAMMATORY,’ (PLANT PROTEIN) TRAIL MIX ~Non-GMO & (Soaked &Raw), ** Non-Dairy, ‘Gluten Free’-
(Soaking or sprotuing grains, nuts removes the disease-causing GLUTENS & LECTINS in the peel- (Google for the benefits of Saving them)
INGREDIENTS Non-GMO (buckwheat) CEREAL grams of protein soaked grains – at least 6 or more grams of protein – check label (Soaked Ancient Gran flaked cereal or Kashi-go-lean-Buckwheat), Oats, ‘ Artisan” brown rice crackers, Ancient Grain Spelt pretzels, Soaked Pumpkin seed for zinc…
- A variety of RAW soaked nuts (whole walnuts, pecans, almonds, etc.
- & RAW seeds chia, sesame, millet, etc
- &Spices.(Herb de Provence, Cajun, Cayenne Sea Salt with Kelp for Iodine, Cracked Pepper, etc..
- Melt slightly & mix: (Virgin coconut oil/or duck fat (from free range ducks – not farmed & fed GMO)…Add seed & herb mix..
- Mix thoroughly …
- Bake on cookie sheet (lined with Parchment paper) at 180* for 30 min & rest for to cool in the oven for an hour or so..…
- After cooled – Add EVOO & more Sea Salt -if necessary –
- Store in an air tight container, Hanover Spelt pretzel barrel container works well…
READ MORE-
** Simple Pastured (Free Range) Beef or chicken Bone Stock – FROM PASTURE-RAISED ANIMAL ONLY! Factory pesticides & GMO Grains
An Instant Pot Will take overnight for large bones – 4 hours for Pasture raised lamb or Pasture-raised chicken bones (Google for more details)
- Scald (Blanch) & Rinse with hot & rinse with cold dechlorinated water To remove live & dead bacteria IN THE WATER =
- & PAT dry (To remove live & dead bacteria)
- Bring to boil on saute – No lid & rinse again
- Set on ‘Soup- Broth) setting (lowest
- After meat falls off bones – strain in stock pan & remove meat
- Wash Clean pan – Add whiter or AC vinegar (to release minerals) & add bone broth back in with AC vinegar & Sea salt
- Add stock vegetables (crossly chopped onions, broccoli stems, beets & other heavy vegetables & (to release minerals)’
- Set on ‘Soup- Broth) setting (lowest) discard (or make dog food in blender with Taurine)
- ‘Can’ in sterile jars with boiling water to the top
- or Make Soup~
- Add tender vegetables leafy greens, parsley, carrots, celery, peas whatever & spice, seeds below…
** Simple French Onion Soup…
Add sautéed onions and Ancient Grain Bread to BONE STOCK
Warm & SPRINKLE with Nutritional Yeast or PARMESAN CHEESE FROM ‘Raw MILK
(Reconstituted dry from Europe-to Avoid Putrid American Dairy)-
** Simple Soup…
1. Fresh chopped FRESH & ROOT vegetables
2. Broth from bone stock above
3. Add Farro, Spelt berries (soaked & cooked)
4. Season with Black cracked pepper, Sea Salt (with kelp), Cajun Seasoning!, etc.
** SIMPLE Non-GMO Pasture-raised Egg Vegetable Frittata with-Ancient Grains
- Chop any vegetables – onions, broccoli stems, carrots celery, anise, deep green & leafy (collards for calcium) etc
- Saute in Extra Virgin Coconut Oil & Add buckwheat , Farro or Ancient Grains Bread Crumbs
- Whole or scrambled Non GMO fed Pasture-raised eggs (2-5)
- Pour over vegetables – add parsley, chives & S & P, Cajun or Fresh Herb de Provence, etc
- Watch, lean Pan to allow eggs to solidify
- Simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes.
- Serve & Enjoy’
- Freeze the remainder in parchment paper & Plastic bags
Extra Virgin ~ Trust labels ~but Verify ~Google!
Top 10 Evidence-Based Health Benefits of Coconut Oil
top-10-evidence-based-health-benefits-of-coconut-oil
(High in Lauric Acid)…`
Virgin Coconut Oil Can Destroy “Harmful Microorganisms”.
The 12-carbon lauric acid makes up about 50% of
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